The Release Bend
The release bend is also sometimes called a reverse bend. You actually start with the note bent before picking it, then release the pressure with your fingers and allow the note to fall to its natural pitch. The symbol for a release bend is a curved downward arrow and the symbol "R".
Bend note on 7th fret of third string.
After note has been sounded, release string to normal position.
Here is a lick which uses the release bend.
These next two licks use both the bend and the release bend.
To end this lesson, here are a couple of licks which make use of all the techniques covered so far.
In this one you will need to keep the first finger covering the first three strings at the 5th fret and roll the finger between the notes instead of jumping from one string to another. This lick works best as a turnaround (bars 11 and 12 of the 12 bar progression).
Here is a new lead guitar solo which uses lots of note bending. It also contains hammer-ons, pull-offs and slides. All the notes come from Pattern 1 and Pattern 1 Extension. The timing of this solo is based on the shuffle rhythm and it contains both eighth note triplets and quarter note triplets. The second and third notes of the first triplet are both played with the first finger of the left hand using the half bar rolling technique.
